Award-winning novelist Lesley Glaister presents a selection of stories by four accomplished women writers - two exceptional short stories from each. Imaginative, intriguing stories ranging from wintertime in small-town Canada to a family settling in 1960s Nigeria; the strange intensity of a mother-daughter relationship in contemporary Birmingham to the shocked silence of New York in autumn 2001. Four talented short story writers explore themes of anger, love, isolation and change. With author photos by young music scene photographer Mark Johnson. Mandt Sutter's Lasiren evokes the other-worldly atmosphere of a young girl's growing up in Africa - a perceptive, gently comic story of how the spirit of the sea overcomes Sarah's fear of the immense Atlantic. Polly Wright's Shropshire Gold remembers the tangle of a girl's longings - and how they churn into a middle-aged woman's resentments when she rediscovers the tarnished white boots that once represented her teenage dreams of escape. Sidura Ludwig's sensual, tenderly optimistic Interlake Evergreens pinpoints late love in a prairie gift shop. A new future opens up for Cathy and David as they balance guilt and hopefulness at a watershed in their relationship. Myra Connell's Hero tackles powerful American themes - the intimate repercussions of world events. A starkly topical story which explores the significance of love and loss against a backdrop of 9/11 terror